About 3 weeks back I picked up an unopened MPC Nike Patriot kit via eBay. I've been wanting to build one of MPC's classic kits since I read about them a year or so ago. This was a deal at just over $7 + shipping, and it looked case-fresh when it arrived. I was almost regretful at taking off the shrinkwrap!

The kit is really nice. The plastic parts are sharp, smooth and incredibly well tooled. The body tubes had very little by way of spiral textures. The 'chute is a big, thick 8-point piece of eyecatching plastic. The decals were thick and well printed. The box is gorgeous and covered in retro-era illustrations and comments: "Model Rocketry... the great new father and son educational hobby/sport." Heh - I fly rockets with my wife & two daughters...

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__________________
BAR after a 29 year absence. Using my plastic, resin & vinyl kit building skills (and my paycheck)
to build what I could only dream of as an 11 year old...

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Building & finishing was a breeze. The only thing that dragged out the process to three weeks was waiting for layers of primer, paint and clearcoat to dry. In fact, I got the bulk of it done over two days.

The BTs are thick, and they've tightly wound and have a nice white coat to them. Probably the best-made BTs I've worked with. The bigger of the two BTs had the noticeable spiral lines, so I sanded a little, masked the tube exposing them and hit it with some high-build primer, sanded again and hit the tube with another coat of high build. A single coat of high-build was used on the upper tube. After painting them with Krylon gloss white, there was only a hint of spiral in a couple places.

I hit the engine mount assembly with some 98-cent flat black spray paint before putting it into the fin-can. The plastic fin can required a little scraping along the knife-sharp fin edges. I masked & hit one fin with Testors grey primer and then Krylon sun yellow. Otherwise, the red plastic on the fin can, the transition, and the blue plastic of the nose cone are all fully exposed. I used a detail pen on the 4 deeper textures on the transition. All the plastic glued tightly to the BTs after the tiniest bit of roughing with sandpaper, and I used plastic cement as instructed by the kit's instructions.

Decals were a bit of a challenge. They were a little yellowed, so I had to leave them in the sun for a few days to bleach the yellow out of the film. They're still the teeniest bit yellow, though. But they're thick and durable. Their age required long soaking, though. Unfortunately, they're a generic sheet used for several MPC rocket kits, so one of the roll-patterns doesn't fit quite right, and there's a mix of NASA, air force, army & other decals on it. Apart from a couple of suggestions on the box, the rest is up to you.

But it builds into a great looking bird, and the box looks great on display with it.

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__________________
BAR after a 29 year absence. Using my plastic, resin & vinyl kit building skills (and my paycheck)
to build what I could only dream of as an 11 year old...

My Rocketreviews.com Gallery

I built the kit mostly stock. It has the original 'chute, but I replaced the red cotton shroud lines with white kite string, and had to replace the dried-out old chute line sticky tabs. Rather than my usual Quest-style kevlar & elastic anchor method, I used the original MPC shock cord anchor, which was a bit of card stock with three holes punched into it, with instructions to weave the shock cord (which was also a thick, long line of elastic with a woven sheath) through them and glue it in. I like this method.

The kit also came with a fishing swivel to attach the parachute to the transition anchor point. It was a little rusted at the loop end, so I replaced it with one of the same size from my parts box. However, it was impressive that MPC suggested this method of attaching the 'chute. Also, the kit came with a little yellow "If found, return to..." information tag. Pretty thoughtful feature as well!

All in all, it looks to me like MPC really used the full prowess of their design shop to cook this kit up. The plastic parts are excellent. The tubes were excellent. The other little features and innovations (for the time) are great to see. While the design is overall a 4FNC, all the pieces to make it are of the top-most notch by any era's standards. A great combination of rocket-kit building experience and model kit building experience. Certainly far more appealing that Estes' current E2X kits.

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__________________
BAR after a 29 year absence. Using my plastic, resin & vinyl kit building skills (and my paycheck)
to build what I could only dream of as an 11 year old...

My Rocketreviews.com Gallery

I have a few of the MPC kits in my collection. I think Uncle Mike's still has a few on his website. I have three MPC Patriots, which is now sold as the Quest Nike-K (the Quik kit is not quite the same as the Patriot as it does not have a one-piece fin can).
I have an MPC Patriot that I have flown now for a couple of decades. I did build a Quest Nike-K with an olive drab "Nike" booster and an upper stage with NASA style markings. I call it the Nike-Whatever. Both have seen many flights and are showing the usual wear and tear.
I also have a Model Rocket Industries Zenith II with balsa nose cone and coupler, as well as two or three MPC versions, and at least one of the Quest versions.
Thank you for posting the pictures of your build.

Chas

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Charles Russell, MSgt,USAF (ret.)
NAR 9790, Lvl 1
SAM "Balls Three"

I must have built two dozen MPC kits back in the day. (At least if you include AVI and MRI kits; they're really part of the same family.) Just a couple remain.

I bought a half-dozen or so MPC kits last year. The Nike Patriot is the first one I intend to build. Like AcroRay I intend to really do a good job of it. Wet sand the plastic parts, paint them with gloss paint of the original color. Just make it as bright and glossy as I can.

As I recall, the MPC tubes really took nicely to sanding and filling. I'll use Aerocoat.

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NAR #27085 - Oregon Rocketry - SAM

Your Nike Patriot model turned out very nice.

Here's a picture of the Nike Patriot I built twenty years ago.

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Bob
S.A.M. # 0014

Nice! And still so shiny!

__________________
BAR after a 29 year absence. Using my plastic, resin & vinyl kit building skills (and my paycheck)
to build what I could only dream of as an 11 year old...

My Rocketreviews.com Gallery

Had One back in the day....and during my last rocket fling 1997-2005 I also bought another MPC as well as the Quest Version....noticed the MPC Can Was a LOT more substantial

Hey AcroRay -
Looks good! Thanks for posting the pics.

I had mine sitting in the box for years and finally put it together.

The first picture shows the decal wrap that doesn't quite meet up.
Check out the thick, clunky launch lug!

Right now it's loaded with a B6-4 for a schoolyard launch.
I'm not big on plastic rockets, (nose cone, adapter and fin can) but this one is a favorite indestructable flyer.

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Hans "Chris" Michielssen
Old/New NAR # 19086 SR

www.oddlrockets.com
www.modelrocketbuilding.blogspot.com
http://www.nar.org/educational-reso...ing-techniques/
Your results may vary
"Nose cones roll, be careful with that."
Every spaceman needs a ray gun.
Look out - I'm the Meister Shyster!

Does anyone have a spare set of those decals?

The decals in my Nike Patriot kit were crumbling and ruined.

I have a bunch of decals I could trade for it.

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NAR #27085 - Oregon Rocketry - SAM